Brake for counter dials



May 15, 1951 c, E 2,552,836

BRAKE FOR COUNTER DIALS Filed Aug. 10, 1945 INVENTOR.

CLAYT'ON F. BANE BY My ATTORNEY Patented May 15, 1951 BRAKE Fon COUNTER. DIALS Clayton F. Bane, San Francisco, Calif., assignor,

by mesne assignments, to E. F. Johnson Company, Waseca, Minn.

Application August 1 0, 1945, Serial No. 610,132

2 Claims. (Cl. 188-7 2) My invention relates to dials employable, for example, in the adjustment and control of radio apparatus or the like, and more particularly relates to a counter dial and lock arrangement.

Among the objects of my invention are:

(1) To provide a novel and improved counter dial permitting of exceedingly small and accurate adjustment of apparatus to be controlled thereby;

(2) To provide a novel and improved counter dial of imple and rugged design, avoiding the use of worm gears;

(3) To provide a novel and improved counter dial including means for readily interpolating adjustment values between the successive readings of the counter;

(4) To provide a dial having a novel and improved means associated therewith for locking the same in any adjustment position;

(5) To provide a novel andimproved dial lock which shall not mar or impair the dial surface;

6) To provide a novel and improved dial lock which will not have a tendency to upset a predetermined dial position in effecting the locking of such dial;

(7) To provide a dial lock capable of adjustment to fit dials of different thicknesses.

Additional objects of my invention will be pointed out in the following description of a preferred embodiment of the same taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

Figure l is a front elevational view of such preferred embodiment of my invention;

Figure 2 is a rear; elevational view of the device of Figure 1;

Figure 3 i a side elevational view of the same device;

Figure 4 is a three-dimensional view of the dial lock and its relationship to a dial to be locked thereby;

Figure 5 is a view in section taken in the planes 5-5 of Figure 1.

Referring to the drawings for the details of my preferred embodiment, I provide a backing plate I, the contour of which is of little significance, though the plate is preferably provided with a plurality of spaced mounting ears 3 offset from the plane of the backing plate to, permit of the attachment of the same to the rear of a supporting panel or the like. The backing plate has an opening 5, preferably rectangular in shape, through the upper portion thereof, and at each end of the opening, there is a tab 1 extending rearwardly of the backing plate and preferably formed from the material of the backing plate during the operation of punching the hole therethrough. A counter 9 is carried on a shaft I I extending between and supported by the rearwardly extending tabs '1, such counter being of the type including a units Wheel I3, a tens Wheel [5 and a hundreds wheel I! in alignment with each other and in alignment with a drive pinion is, suitable spacers 2| and 23 being employed to properly position these elements on the. counter shaft. The construction of such counter is conventional and well known.

At a substantial distance below the counter, the backing plate is provided with a bushingzd in which is journaled a control shaft 21. To the. rear of the backing plate, this control shaft carries a pinion 29 preferably of the ame size and, of the same number of teeth as the counter shaft, pinion l9 to which it is geared by an intermediate drive connection.

Such drive connection includes, a tab 3| punched out of the, backing plate and having a pair of spaced perforated ears 33 bent normal thereto, and a shaft 35, passing through and journaled in these perforated ears. To each end of this shaft there is affixed a pinion 31 and 39 in meshing engagement, with that pinion adjacent to it.

By making these drive connection pinions similar, a one to one drive ratio is effected between the control shaft 21 and the counter pinion [-9, although it becomes apparent that should any other ratio be desired, this could very readily be. realized by changing the dimensions of such of the pin-ions in accordance with well known design formulas. V

A calibrated dial 4| mounted on the control shaft in front of the backing plate is frictionally loaded against too free a rotation by the spring washer 43 interposed between the backing plate, bushing and the rear surface of the dial.

.In providing a one to one ratio drive between the control shaft and the counter pinion, the control shaft and, consequently, the dial, will make one completelrevolution for each complete, revolution of, the units wheel and for each one-- tenth of a rotation of the tens wheel, etc. Consequently, inasmuch as the dial is capable of calibration to .a much higher degree than the units wheel, the units wheel may be disregarded and left blank, while the tens wheel and the hundreds wheel each will be numbered conventionally from zero to nine. Thus the dial can be relied on to accurately interpolate between successive readings of the counter, and by providing the dial with s uificient markings, hair line interpolations may be realized.

A piece of sheet plastic 45 is supported from the backing plate on spacers 41 and is of suflicient area to extend over the upper portion of the backing plate including the counter and the upper portion of the dial. This section of sheet plastic is rendered opaque except for that area covering the dial and a small area in front of the fore.- most digit on the tens and hundreds wheels of the counter to provide a window through which these digits only may be exposed to the observation of an operator.

A reference line 49 may be applied to or scratched on the transparent portion overlying the dial for use in connection with readings on the dial;

When the entire counter dial v,assembly is mounted on the rear of a panel, the pertinent portion under the plastic sheet-may be exposed through an opening in the panel, theplastic sheet serving as protection for the dial.

To preclude accidental or unwarranted tame,

pering with the dial after having once made a desirable adjustment of apparatus, I provide locking means which enables an operator to lock the dial against rotation.

' For this purpose, a bracket is addedto the backing plate'in the form of a laterally extending arm to constitute a support for the locking elements which enter into the makeup of my lock assembly. For allintentsand purposes, this bracket may .beformed integrally with the back- ,in g plate andwill beconsidered as part of the backing plate. 1

A knob 53 having a stem 55 is positioned with. the stem end journaled in an opening 51 in the bracket, the stem having adjacent portions 59 and BI of different diameters..- .One of these adjacent. portions has a right-hand thread thereon, while the other portion has a left-hand thread. A, disc 63 is threadedly mounted on one of the threaded portions of the stem in overlapping relationshipto the dial, while a separate disc 55 is threadedly' mounted on the other threaded portion of the stem in underlapping relationship to' the dial, each of the discs having notche 61in that is either toward each other or away from. 7 each other, In one such direction ofmovement,

the discs will simultaneously approach the dial and clamp the same against rotation, and by such function, lock the entire counter dial assembly. In the opposite direction of movement, of course, the assembly will be unlocked.

.By withdrawing of. the pin 69, either disc may be manually rotated to adjust its position on the. stem. 'This permits of symmetrical positioning of the discs with respect to the dial, as well as, providing adjustment for dials of diiferent thick nesses. With dialsof average thickness, locking and. unlocking of the same may be accomplished through-less than one complete turn of the knob.. A washer 1 I. positioned on the pin between the norcan they upset any adjustment of the dial.

which it is desired to maintain through the use of the lock. 7 It furthermore becomes impossible,

to distort or bend the'dial during locking. Thus the lockis capable of performing a highly desirable function without any deleterious results to the dial mechanism.

WhileI have described my invention in its pre ferred form and in considerable detail, the same is subject to modification and alteration, without departing from the underlying principles involved,

and I accordingly do not desire to be limited in my protection to the details thus disclosed, eX-

- cept as may be necessitated by the appended claims. 7

. .I claim:

1. A diallock assembly comprisinga knob having a stem adapted to engage a supporting plate, said stem having adjacent portions, one of said portions having a right-hand thread thereon,

while the other portion has a left-hand thread; a

a disc threadedly mounted on one of said threaded portions of said stem; a separate disc threadedly mounted on the other threaded portion of saidstem; each of said discs havinga plurality of disc openings therein alignable within a fractional turn of either disc; and means precluding rotation of either of said discs without impairing simultaneous linear movement'thereof in opposite directions in response to rotation of said knob, said means including a pin adapted to pass through a pair of said alignable disc openings,

2. A dial lock assembly comprising'a supporting plate; a knob having a stem pivotally en- 7 gaging said supporting plate, said stem having adjacent portions of difierent diameters, one of said portions having a right-hand thread thereon, while the other portion has a left-hand thread; a disc threadedly mounted on one of said threaded portions of said stem; a separate disc threadedly mounted on the other threaded por-.

tion of said stem; each of said discs having a notch in the edge thereof capable of alignment.

with the notch in the other disc; a' pin anchored to said supporting plate and extending-through said notches to preclude rotation of either of said discs without impairing simultaneous linear movement thereof on said stem in opposite directions in response to rotation of said knob}.

' and a spacer on. said pin between said, discs, said Number Name 537,824 Hastings Apr. 23, 1895 553,008 Lodetti Jan. 14, 1896 937,516 Duenkel Oct. 19, 1909 1,038,350 Goss Sept. 10, 1912. 1,102,449 Stensland July 7, 1914- ,225,387 Winters et al.v May 8, 1917 1,281,338 Gargan Oct. 15, 1918 1,290,382 Slaughter Jan. 7,1919 1,682,376 Henze Aug. 28, 1928 1,692,605 Wolf Nov. 20, 1928. 1,878,035 Vickerym Sept. 20, 1932 2,013,492- Gorton Sept. 3, 1935 2,119,576 Goldstine June 7, 1938 2,174,608 Vail. Oct. 3, 1939, 2,175,129 Rolfson Oct. 3, 1939 2,308,874 Greenleaf Jan. 19, 1943 2,319,891 Telander May'25,.1943. 2,323,608 Kester .July 6,1943 2,433,794 Sprigman Dec. 30,1947 2,436,921 Goldstine et a1. Mar. 2,1948

REFERENCES CITED The following references are'of record" in the file of this patent: 1

, UNITED STATES PATENTS V Date 

